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Photo by Chris Bales, 2012 Lube-O-Rama |
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When an attraction is as popular as Radiator Springs Racers, it’s good to grab a FASTPASS to cut your wait time substantially. Usually FASTPASS machines are somewhere near an attraction’s entrance. |
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On the same block as Ramone’s House of Body Art, just before the entrance to Radiator Springs Racers, there’s a building that looks like an old repair garage. A tower sign says Lube-O-Rama. Could this be the place? |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2012 Right by the entrance to Radiator Springs Racers |
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As you walk around the corner of the building, you see the building’s second tower sign. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2012 FASTPASS Distribution sign |
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A masterfully designed “vintage” neon sign reads “FASTPASS” horizontally across the top and “Distribution” vertically. Perfect! This must be the right place. And this must be the most elaborately themed FASTPASS distribution location anywhere. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2012 FASTPASS machine bays |
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But nobody is getting FASTPASS tickets here. It’s just being used for indoor stroller parking. Oh! There’s a sign telling you that the FASTPASS machines for this ride are elsewhere in the park—not even in Cars Land. But don’t bother going there now. Another sign tells you that today’s FASTPASS distribution has ended. |
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Since the introduction of Disney’s FASTPASS system in 1999, FASTPASS machine locations have been themed to some extent. Usually this just meant a row of dressed-up machines under some sort of appropriate canopy. In most cases, they were added to existing attractions as afterthoughts. The Imagineers who designed the FASTPASS distribution facility for Radiator Springs Racers did a brilliant job. It was perfectly integrated into the “show.” The Lube-O-Rama building looked great. On April 24, 2012, before Cars Land opened, Al Lutz published a MiceAge column with this news: The DCA executive team has all visited The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios Orlando, and they desperately want to avoid the overcrowding and general mayhem that Potterland generates. TDA’s industrial engineering department weighed in and decided that the best way to alleviate crowds was to move the Fastpass distribution machines for the Racers ride outside of the land nearer the park’s main entry path, and the location in “a bug’s land” was perfectly placed for that purpose. Visitors to Cars Land this summer will still see the original Racers Fastpass location near the attraction entrance, but the doors will be shut and there are no plans to use it for Fastpass until after this summer or perhaps even after the Christmas season ends in early 2013. It was a good idea and it worked well. Instead of contributing to congestion at the entrance to Radiator Springs Racers, guests could stop just beyond the Carthay Circle building in “a bug’s land”—at what had once been the FASTPASS distribution spot for It’s Tough to be a Bug!—on their way to Cars Land. Al Lutz followed up on September 18, 2012, in another MiceAge article: The poorly planned but nicely themed Fastpass distribution area for Radiator Springs Racers has finally been removed, with DCA managers now acknowledging they will have to offer Fastpasses for the ride at the “temporary” area near A Bugs Land for several more years. With that space now empty, the DCA Stores team has their eye on that garage as expansion space for Ramone’s House of Body Art next door. Before the end of 2012, the “FASTPASS Distribution” neon letters came down—the first significant Cars Land landmark to qualify for Yesterland. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Lube-O-Rama Parts ’n’ Stuff |
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“Lube-O-Rama Parts ’n’ Stuff” neon letters went up in its place. Cars Land gained high-traffic retail space—connected by an interior doorway to Ramone’s House of Body Art. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Garage doors closed in May 2013 |
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Two of the three garage doors can be opened and closed. The third one appears to be a functional garage door from the outside, but is actually retail space on the inside. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Garage doors open in September 2013 |
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The garage-themed space for Radiator Springs Racers FASTPASS is unlikely ever to serve that purpose. The ride is likely to retain its popularity for a long time, so the concern about congestion will remain valid. Even if that were not the case, FastPass+, the high-tech ride reservation system at Walt Disney World, is expected to replace traditional FASTPASS at the Disneyland Resort too. When that happens, FASTPASS machines at attraction entrances will go away. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Still a garage theme |
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The items on the shelves and hangers throughout Cars Land actually seem to belong there, instead of being the same generic Disney character merchandise found in too many other Disney theme park stops. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Parts at night |
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Having never been used for its original purpose, and with all traces of it removed from inside and outside the building, it’s unlikely many guests remember that there was ever a neon FASTPASS Distribution sign at the entrance to Radiator Springs Racers. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Line for the real distribution |
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Meanwhile, Disney California Adventure guests have become very aware of how FASTPASS works for the highest demand attraction in the park. They get in a long line, far away from Radiator Springs Racers. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 All gone |
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And they had better not sleep in. This FASTPASS goes fast. |
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© 2014-2019 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Updated July 12, 2019. |
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